I think most contests have a cut-off date before an announcement is made, so that the results can be correlated in time for a deadline, in this case, the Oscars.

Or...here's an idea...maybe we could just leave it open and let people makes their picks *durng* the ceremony or even after it!? That would at least ensure a few more winners and be "fair", right?

Seems to me, since TicketGuy hasn't entered, that someone *was* looking for an Oscar contest two days before the event...and left it too late to enter!

Besides, this isn't even the Oscar contest thread and for a first time poster to come in and criticize the way something is run when we just do this for fun and offer a generous prize out of our own pocket is just plain rude.

With just one post and comment, you certainly have your card marked already, TicketGuy. Welcome to our boards, I guess.

Perhaps Ticket Guy is annoyed that the competition closed before the Sound Editing Guild (or was it the Sound Mixing Guild) announced their winner. That was the only Guild that didn't announce their pick. Either way, I always appreciated the effort of the competition and what I usually view as a fun activity. I appreciate that the prizes come from your hip pocket. And the couple of times I've been able to have enjoyed the chat room. Unfortunately, this year won't be one of those times I can participate. Perhaps I should complain to the Academy about its selfishness in not aligning their night with a more suitable time for Australian workers.

Join members of the Animated Views team and your fellow forum members for a live chat during the Oscar telecast! Not only will we talk shop, we'll also keep a running live update of who is leading in our Oscar prediction contest throughout the night!

We'll officially kick off the chat at 7:30pm ET on Sunday, February 26th. Registered forum members can click the "Chat" link at the top of any forum page to enter the chat room.

CHAT ROOM NOTES: - Let's keep the chat room rated PG please. Violators may be kicked out! - The Flash plugin is NOT needed to access the room! Should work on tablets too.

Daniel (7:53pm) — And it's usually posted on the boards for reference. So yeah...

Daniel (7:54pm) — Probably a decade, easy.

Daniel (7:54pm) — Where does the time go...

Otis8 (7:55pm) — u ok?

Daniel (7:55pm) — Yes. All good.

Otis8 (7:56pm) — 30 more min till is starts?

James (7:56pm) — About 14 years

ibrmacf (7:56pm) — @Daniel: Nice! Yeah, I don't remember exactly when, but I know I've been using AnimatedViews daily since at least 2006. It's the first website I check when I do my daily morning Internet browsing ritual.

James (7:57pm) —

Otis8 (7:58pm) — Hey James! Another hidden person.

James (8:00pm) — I guess the chat uses the forum preferences. Didn't know it hid people here.

James (9:18pm) — I thought we had a chance at someone getting a perfect score this year, but after four awards that chance is already gone

James (9:18pm) — No. She was good, but a little pitchy

Ben (9:18pm) — great!!

Ben (9:19pm) — I put a fish in your basket

ibrmacf (9:19pm) — I'd have loved to see Shiny!

Randall (9:19pm) — What a moment for the kid.

James (9:19pm) — Thought we had a chance at someone getting everything right this year, but after just 4 awards that chance is gone

Dan (9:19pm) — with james. good performance, but hardly the best live oscar performance ever

Dan (9:20pm) — nevertheless, a great moment for her, absolutely

James (9:20pm) — Was very nice performance.

James (9:21pm) — Crowd could have showed a little more appreciation. Guess she wasn't famous enough for them to notice.

Ben (9:21pm) — well, in context of it being a very dynamic song, she's only 16, sang it in one take, live, and didn't flinch when she got hit by one of the fans...and made it feel effortless? Pretty darn good without being overblown. Yeah,

Ben (12:35am) — We had some company this year, so there was a nice bunch of us to catch that upset at the end! Silly how so many places are reporting is was Beatty who slipped up when it was Dunaway who read out the wrong name.

Join members of the Animated Views team and your fellow forum members for a live chat during the Oscar telecast! Not only will we talk shop, we'll also keep a running live update of who is leading in our Oscar prediction contest throughout the night!

We'll officially kick off the chat at 7:30pm ET on Sunday, March 4th. Registered forum members can click the "Chat" link at the top of any forum page to enter the chat room.

CHAT ROOM NOTES: - Let's keep the chat room rated PG please. Violators may be kicked out! - The Flash plugin is NOT needed to access the room! Should work on tablets too.

Daniel (1:48pm) — It's funny, when previews were popping up I kept saying now with a new, improved Cinderella. New yes, but in a way she was worse. The first one wasn't anything special but in comparison... Ashley was better.

Otis8 (1:49pm) — Totally. same for Alice.

Daniel (1:50pm) — Eh, I'm not fond of either.

Otis8 (1:51pm) — be back...

Otis8 (3:02pm) — im back but now alone. lol

Daniel (3:22pm) — I'm back for a little.

Daniel (3:23pm) — On and off, y'know.

Otis8 (3:25pm) — its so quite.

Daniel (3:26pm) — Well, it is still early and I don't feel like writing essays about voices. :p

Daniel (3:26pm) —

Otis8 (3:27pm) — have you seen black panther?

Daniel (3:29pm) — Nah.

Otis8 (3:31pm) — I want to see peter rabbit. you know, just to see if it really is THAT bad.

Daniel (3:44pm) — Not ignoring btw, just doing something else.

Otis8 (3:45pm) — No prob, busy having a snack! waiting for more people to show up.

Daniel (7:10pm) — Still around, huh?

Otis8 (7:10pm) — yes, so bored. everone must be waiting until it actually starts?

Dan (8:19pm) — Not sure I can think of a performance that would've been Oscar worthy this year, regardless of if it had been nominated or not.

James (8:20pm) — lots of unlikable characters this year

Ben (8:20pm) — Lots of shots of Iger

Dan (8:20pm) — Oh, are we gonna get the Mary Popping trailer tonight?

Dan (8:21pm) — Op, we do

ibrmacf (8:21pm) — I think so. Can't wait to see it.

ShyViolet (8:22pm) — Hi, guys.

Ben (8:22pm) — No, they can't show Mary Popping since this is a family show

Dan (8:22pm) — True XD

ibrmacf (8:22pm) — I remember how last year Bill Paxton died a day before the Oscars, so they couldn't include him in the In Memoriam section. I figure same thing will happen this year with David Ogden Stiers.

EricJ (10:09pm) — Yeah, think some idiots ARE going to try and watch Wrinkle while stoned, because they never read the book.

Ben (10:12pm) — i went for 405

James (10:12pm) — Doc Short 52% say Edith+Eddie

Ben (10:12pm) — got it,

James (10:12pm) — Probably going to be 405 tho

Dan (10:12pm) — Dammit, Ben!

Ben (10:13pm) — i think some voted for this simply because they've heard or been on the 405 freeway!

ibrmacf (10:13pm) — I didn't expect 405 to win, lol!

James (10:13pm) — Live Action Short - 70% say DeKalb Elementary

Ben (10:14pm) — Cant remember what I went for here

Ben (10:15pm) — oh, I set for 11

James (10:16pm) — Only 12% said The Silent Child

Ben (10:16pm) — totally didn't see this one

ibrmacf (10:16pm) — I got this one fortunately!

Ben (10:16pm) — it didn't seem to have too much steam behind it

ibrmacf (10:17pm) — I picked it mostly on the story as it seems that shorts with those kind of storylines have won in the past.

James (10:18pm) — She was stunning

Ben (10:21pm) — Just watched Poppins...was hoping for a bit of classic music but I liked Blunt more than I have in the pics so far

James (10:22pm) — Hmm. Line about Trump being racist in this song. There's your winner!

Ben (10:23pm) — fun fact: the bridge that's shown in a few shots in the second half is the same Pinewood Studios backlot bridge as seen in countless films, not least Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, so there's a kind of nice old school connection there.

Dan (10:24pm) — Yep. Rob Marshall talked about how they wanted to bring over as many of the original pieces as they could.

Dan (10:24pm) — He said at D23, that is.

Ben (10:24pm) — Still waiting for this show to have some of its own classic moments! I usually archive these ceremonies on disc but not sure I'll bother with this one!

ibrmacf (10:25pm) — Does hot dog gun shooting count as classic, lol?

Ben (10:25pm) — The Harvey Girls!

James (10:31pm) — Adapted screenplay - 86% say Call Me By Your Name

James (10:32pm) — Would love to see Logan win this

EricJ (10:32pm) — Do people REALLY think Wrinkle, Black Panther and Get Out are the same movie?

Ben (11:50pm) — yeah...strange cut off and then Kimmel didn't save it, and then they made the jetski a bigger deal? Big foul up in the final seconds!

Dan (11:50pm) — Congratulations to woodsbaker!!!

Ben (11:51pm) — cool, dude!

woodsbaker (11:51pm) — thanks!

James (11:51pm) — BEN - 12th place 19/22

James (11:51pm) — ibrmacf - 45th place 16/22

James (11:52pm) — JAMES - 60th place 11/22

Ben (11:52pm) — 19 out of 22 is prob my best score ever.

James (11:52pm) — i think so. Just two off our record

James (11:53pm) — My problem is when I create the contest I do the first ballot so I'm not accused of cheating by seeing everyone else's picks. No I'm picking a month before the show while everyone else waits until the last second!

James (11:53pm) —

Ben (11:53pm) — pretty impressed with myself, especially since I knew two of those were "hope votes" that I knew would go to what did win, so it'd have been 21 too. Very cool!

woodsbaker (11:54pm) — that does make it trickier

Ben (11:54pm) — See ya later guys!

woodsbaker (11:54pm) — bye

Dan (11:54pm) — NIGHT!!!

Ben (11:55pm) — Morning! Wifey'll be getting UP in a few minutes!

woodsbaker (11:55pm) — only 11 here

James (11:56pm) — got disconnected!

James (11:56pm) — see ya!

Ben (11:57pm) —

James (11:59pm) — I'll be sending you details on the prize after I double check things wood!